During the early hours of Sunday morning on the 11th of December, Maxesibeni residents were awakened by smoke in their small town. Three shops owned by foreign nationals namely, Zegqume, Usiza Hardware and the Highway motor spares, burnt down to ashes, and two other shops were affected by smoke and heat.
At around 08H00 in the morning, just before shops could open fire broke in one of the stores. The shop owners and the staff were inside preparing to start their day when they noticed smoke coming up. Unfortunately, they couldn’t save anything as they were running for their lives. There have been no reported causalities.
I am still inconsolable by what happened to me. I lost everything that was inside the shop and the full stock I ordered in preparation for Christmas. I don’t know what to do now as I have 50 familymembers who depend on me, said Mohammed Abrahaman who has been in South Africa with his family for about 22 years.
The actual cause of the fire has not been determined yet but it is still under investigation as there are many rumours on what caused the fire. It is alleged that the Shop owners have been refusing to give out the name of the first person who saw the fire.
“There has been no casualties and all the three shops that were burnt down to ashes are not registered under the municipal indigents list. They are in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality central business area so; they will depend on their insurances as there is nothing the municipality can do to help them”. Said Zolile Vuko the Chief Fire Officer at ANDM.
